Courage Rides with SAPD

San Antonio’s District 9 City Councilman John Courage hit the streets with a San Antonio Police Department SAFFE officer Tuesday morning.

The ride along started and ended at the SAPD North Substation at 13030 Jones Maltsberger Road.

“I just feel it’s important for me to be able to relay the importance of the SAFFE program to people in the community by experiencing it myself,” Courage said.

The San Antonio Fear Free Environment Unit consists of officers who focus on identifying, evaluating and resolving community crime problems with the cooperation and participation of community residents, according to its website.

“We actually went into an area where they had an administrative warrant to search a home because there had been a lot of complaints about the home,” Courage said.

The councilman would like to see improved police-community relations, as well as a fully staffed SAPD. He said the department is currently undermanned by about 150 officers.

“I know that a lot of my fellow city council people share the concern that we’re not at full strength and I think with the budget issues coming up right now, that is a major concern that we want to make sure the San Antonio Police Department is at full strength and that way they can protect the community much better,” Courage said.

Courage said it wasn’t the first time he’s done a ride along and it won’t be the last.